Noah’s lead was followed by Nigel’s lilac dress fluttering gracefully like a butterfly’s wings.

Magic flowed out and penetrated through their joined hands. Once their eyes met, they did not look away.

Dozens of strings on the stringed instruments created sorrowful and romantic music under the bow.

Unable to gauge the expression of the dance partner moving to the music, their hearts were in sync. They quietly wished for this moment to never end, for the music to not approach its finale.

However, the music ended, and the movement of the two people stopped.

The gaze between the two staring at each other persisted tenaciously like a strong rope, until Nigel was the first to look away.

Breaking the long silence that followed, Nigel’s lips parted.

“…Noah, shall we talk for a moment? Just the two of us.”

Sensing the emotion in the slightly trembling voice, Noah hesitated for a moment before smiling brightly.

“I’ll bring some drinks. Would you wait for a moment?”

As Nigel nodded, Noah turned away.

Seeing that broad back, Nigel’s mouth filled with bitterness.

Just Noah turning his back caused such turmoil; Nigel’s resolve to return the ring wavered.

Just as Nigel clenched her fist, the communication stone buzzed again. It must be Widrun.

As Nigel rolled her eyes, not knowing what to do, a classmate with a bright smile entered her field of vision.

“…When Noah comes back, could you tell him I’m at the balcony?”

“Of course! Leave it to me.”

Pushing aside suspicions about the classmate showing excessive trust, Nigel headed to the balcony.

“What’s the matter?”

-…

“Chancellor?”

Widrun’s mouth didn’t open easily, but then with a deep sigh, he began to speak.

-…Miss Ars, it seems you’ll need to return quickly after the ball ends.

“Please explain what’s going on…!”

At that moment, the light of the communication stone went out, and Widrun’s voice was cut off.

And then.

“What’s wrong?”

Noah’s voice flowed into the balcony.

Noah, holding two glasses of lilac-colored drinks, looked at Nigel with concern.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Nigel pretended nothing was wrong, stuffing the communication stone into the folds of her dress and raising the corners of her mouth as she looked at Noah. Seeing Nigel’s smile, Noah regained his composure.

In contrast, although Nigel’s heart pretended to be calm, it was drying up in confusion.

She needed to quickly return the signet ring in her pocket to Noah, reject his confession, and return to Sienia, but her mouth, infected by the dryness in her heart, was parched and wouldn’t open easily.

“Drink this.”

A glass of transparent and beautifully colored drink was held out in front of the contemplating Nigel.

I wonder if you know what I’m going to say to you after I drink this and moisten my lips.

“Nigel, why do you look so troubled? We danced well together, but do you dislike being alone with me?”

Noah looked down at Nigel, who was trying to avoid his gaze, with a bright, beautiful smile.

“Then, shall I tell you my embarrassing secret?”

Nigel’s head nodded once, slightly up and down, indicating approval.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

As he spoke, Nigel’s hand was caught in Noah’s large hand. Noah placed Nigel’s hand on his chest.

Thump thump.

Noah’s heart, filled with vitality, beat fiercely. Surprised by the pulsation, Nigel accidentally injected a large amount of magic, causing Noah’s heart to beat even more strongly.

Flustered, Nigel quickly removed her hand and looked up at Noah.

“…Why is it like this?”

“Every time Nigel’s magic is injected, it beats so strongly that it’s hard to pretend not to notice.”

“But I’ve never heard of a case where injecting magic into a magic-deficient patient makes the heart beat this strongly?”

As Nigel tilted her head, Noah slowly turned his.

“You know… it’s because it’s you, Nigel.”

Seeing Noah’s pink-tinged ears peeking through his blue-silver hair, even Nigel’s face grew hot. At the same time, her resolve was consumed by emotion.

At this rate, she would end up doing nothing for both Noah and Widrun, letting everything fizzle out.

Nigel frowned and drank the cool, sweet drink in one go. For a moment, her body cooled down, and her blurred resolve became clear again.

No matter how intensely Noah’s heartbeat strengthened with Nigel’s magic, Nigel was just Meriel’s insurance.

The person who can truly cure Noah’s magic deficiency is, after all, Meriel.

As if to prove this fact, Noah’s magic didn’t fill up, like a leaky water jar.

‘…We shouldn’t be together.’

Nigel had not believed in love since childhood and thought that love would never enter her life.

But she did have a definition of love.

For Nigel, love wasn’t about illuminating each other’s depths and carrying each other’s burdens, but about not passing one’s own burdens onto the other.

So she thought love was about making the other person walk a path full of fragrant flowers without a single thorn.

If she fell in love with Noah, Nigel might unknowingly show her own thorns and beg to walk through a thorny path together, getting bloodied.

But Noah was too precious a person for that.

It was less painful to see Noah smiling innocently, kissing Meriel without knowing anything, and becoming a hero of the empire, rather than seeing him suffer by being entangled with herself, who carried so much.

That’s why Nigel took out the signet ring.

“Nigel…”

Noah flashed a smile that seemed like it could melt Nigel’s resolve in an instant. It was a smile too good for Nigel.

Nigel’s determination strengthened even more at the sight of the mysterious and beautiful Noah standing under the brilliant moonlight.

He is a person most beautiful when in the light. Not in the darkness where one can’t see an inch ahead.

Just as Nigel’s two lips parted.

With a loud bursting sound, beautiful magic fireworks filled the sky in the distance. Also, the flower scent that filled the ballroom grew even stronger, and flower petals fluttered down from the air.

The petals reached out to the deep balcony, and a colorful flower rain fell between Nigel and Noah.

The magically created petals disappeared like mirages as soon as they touched anything.

And at that moment, Nigel’s mouth moved.

Although Nigel’s voice was drowned out by the sound of fireworks, Noah clearly read her lip movements.

In the most beautiful place where flower petals were scattered everywhere and fireworks adorned the sky, Nigel smiled brightly and brought it to an end.

Saying that she liked him, but they shouldn’t be together.

Then, the signet ring filled the empty spot on Noah’s fourth finger.

Seeing the beautiful finger with the signet ring, a sense of relief washed over her as if she had completed a difficult task.

‘Well done. It’s over now, it’s done.’

Nigel turned around without hesitation and started walking.

Tap.

At that moment, Nigel’s hand was caught.

“…Nigel.”

A damp voice filled with tears entered Nigel’s ears, creating a huge wave in her heart.

Without looking at Noah’s face, Nigel slowly lowered her head and placed a blessing kiss on the back of Noah’s hand.

Nigel sincerely prayed that he would hurt only a little and return to his place, that only beautiful things would fill his path ahead.

Pretending not to hear the crying sound that couldn’t be drowned out by the loud bursting of fireworks, she left the balcony.

With this, Nigel’s first love came to an end, leaving a bitter taste.

As soon as Nigel got out of the carriage as if escaping, she took out the teleport stone.

The moment she set foot inside the main gate of Sienia, a blue light enveloped Nigel in the blink of an eye.

In front of the chancellor’s office, Nigel urgently opened the door without time to think.

The cold and chilly atmosphere, followed by the fishy smell, quickened Nigel’s steps.

At the end, there was Widrun covered in blood and a man wearing a diagonal mask on his face.

As Nigel quickly approached to check, the man’s skin was pale without any blood.

As if…

Then Widrun’s hand reached out to Nigel, and her vision darkened.

“Don’t look.”

“But…!”

Nigel struggled to push away Widrun’s hand, but it was futile with her weakened body.

“When did that person die?”

“…”

From Widrun’s silence, Nigel knew the answer.

“He died around the time I arrived, didn’t he?”

Widrun’s hand covering the front fell weakly, and light came in.

Upon closer inspection, traces of a magic formula were visible under his tongue.

“I should have put him in a magic-blocking prison earlier. It’s my fault for not considering the possibility of the hostage taking his own life, caught up in the thought of finally getting a lead.”

“No, it’s my fault. If I had hurried a little more, we could have obtained information.”

“Nigel, it’s not your fault at all. If we were to weigh the sins, mine would be the heaviest for dragging you, a student I should protect, into a dangerous situation.”

Nigel slowly shook her head.

If she hadn’t hesitated and dragged things out, if she had conveyed her feelings to Noah earlier, they could have obtained information about the shining rose from the hostage.

It was she who had ruined everything.

Both inflicting deep wounds on Noah and failing to obtain valuable information.

Nigel threw the ring, suppressing the rising indignation. The ring made a clattering noise as it hit the floor here and there.

Then, a brilliant golden light too dazzling to open one’s eyes filled the room.

“Nigel, I understand your feelings, but holy power cannot resurrect the dead.”

Widrun, whose eyes were forcibly closed, put up a barrier in the room to prevent the light from leaking out.

“Nigel, that’s enough now…”

At that moment, a small but clear crying sound reached Widrun’s ears.

Widrun trailed off and stayed by Nigel’s side until she stopped crying.